Experimental investigation of supertransmission for an intrinsic localized mode in a cyclic nonlinear transmission line

In this experimental study of the nonlinear loss mechanism between traveling localized excitation and the underlying extended normal mode spectrum for a 1D lattice, three types of cyclic, electric, nonlinear transmission lines (NLTLs) are used. They are nonlinear capacitive, inductive, and capacitive+inductive NLTLs. To maintain a robust, steady-state traveling intrinsic localized mode (ILM), a traveling wave driver is used. The ILM loses energy because of a resonance between it and the extended NLTL modes. A wake field excitation is detected directly from ILM velocity experiments by the decrease in ILM speed and by the observation of the wake. Its properties are quantified via a two-dimensional Fourier map in the frequency-wavenumber domain, determined from the measured spatial-time voltage pattern. Simulations support and extend these experimental findings. We find for the capacitive+inductive NLTL configuration, when the two nonlinear terms are theoretically balanced, the wake excitation is calculated to become very small, giving rise to supertransmission over an extended driving frequency range.